


Andrew's Journals - Semester 1

by yukikun13



Series: Andrew Leibel - NWM [2]
Category: Andrew and Azra, Azdrew, New World Magischola 1 2016
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-16 22:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7287148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukikun13/pseuds/yukikun13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The personal journey Andrew took throughout the first three days of Magischola, as told through his journals... Rating for swearing, because my mouth is awful. </p><p>For reference:<br/>Xel, Joscelyn, Jayden, and Andrew are in house Dan Obeah.<br/>Medard, Azra, Adrianna, and (eventually) Aveline are in house Maison DuBois.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of Magischola, featuring a tornado due to elemental magic, house point deductions, and the scare of losing those you hold dear.
> 
>  **W A R N I N G:** Potential spoilers for the _Explorers of the Eternal_ plot. 
> 
> All character interactions were taken from Andrew’s POV. Some mention of other characters, but if you’d rather I take it out, let me know!
> 
> Hours of Gameplay: 6pm - 12am  
> Steps: 14,141

* * *

                                                                                                    **D A Y         O N E**

* * *

It’s so great to be back at Magischola. 

It would be even better if I hadn’t gotten stuck with a pain-in-the-ass, snotty roommate. I hate to be stereotypical, but she is the very _essence_ of Forscythe. She abandoned me at the room before I could even offer to show her around campus. At least I got the bed by the door and the desk by the window. Cha-ching. 

I found her again at dinner. I sat with her and Briar Samson. Blegh. At least they found each other. I thought I would be screwed as more and more unsoiled started sitting with us, but, finally, some hands clasped over my eyes and a whisper of “Guess who?” made me smile. Margeary. Finally. A knight in shining armor, even if she trotted away to go eat with her Clique, leaving me alone to deal with harsh glances from the crowd with sticks up their asses.

Dinner was uneventful until the Registrar started giving announcements. Detentions. Already? Had to have been students from last year… As soon as Azra’s name was mentioned, I felt my heart sink. Detention for swimming in the lake naked… Yeah, that was last term… I had _been_ there… And looked away like a gentleman, leaving her ample time to get caught… I looked for her in the dining hall, saw a familiar blue-feathered earring, and blushed hard. My roommate caught it. “Do you know something about that?” 

Fuck off, Aveline. Shit, you don’t even know me and you’re already trying to get into my business?

We were dismissed from dinner, and I walked Aveline back to the dorms. Of course, on our way there, Azra had gotten in front of us. I tried to avoid her, especially since she was talking with a few other people. Aveline caught up on it immediately, asking if I was avoiding her cousin (oh, joy) or the cute little blonde one. 

This is going to be a long term.

After dropping off my charge at the room, I had some… _Exploring_ to do… This weird letter had shown up at my house with a clue… _Go to the Garden of the Five Lions_ … Well, at least, that was what I _thought_ it said. I looked for another clue… Another found in a box. Another puzzle… This one was just as easy as the last, honestly. Go to the Artificarium. A’ight. Nailed it. Artificiery lab, here I come.

Nothing. I searched the room and found nothing. I doubted myself. Maybe it was Alchemy lab? I checked next door… Another student was in there. She turned on the lights. Coakley saw us and yelled at us, something about light sensitive materials… He deducted three house points from both of us. Thank god we weren’t both in Obeah. Dammit. He told us to get out and I left. I went back to the Artificiery lab… This time, I would make sure the lights were _off_. 

Just goes to show what happens when I _don’t_ follow the rules. 

As soon as I was in there, I found myself with other students. I paused, waited, and asked them as they looked at me, “Are you exploring too?” They nodded. We searched together. Nothing. Again.

A howling box, one that vibrated and emitted some sort of strange electric waves when a hand was put over it, stopped howling as the power failed. The chancellor’s voice told students to stay put and not panic. We did. We ended up going in a circle, talking about… Our lives. Getting to know each other. There were some people from Virginia Isle in there, talking about how hard it was to lead a life of privilege. All I could think of was Aveline… 

Except when I realized that Azra was in the forest. 

In detention.

In the storm.

I left. I actually ran _into_ Aveline and Xel, another housemate, and led them to the area where we were going to have the open houses. The campus had changed, per usual, but I was able to find our way quickly. I looked for Adrianna and Azra, trying to find them both, to make sure they were okay. Adrianna I found after a while, which made me relieved. But word was already buzzing about Azra running off into the woods by herself… And something about her becoming possessed. My heart stopped, but I continued to look for her. I kept popping into DuBois house like I owned it… Then, finally, she was there, wrapped in a white fluffy blanket and surrounded by some of her housemates. 

All the nerves I felt vanished. I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” I greeted her, and when she looked at me, there was this air of familiarity… Comfort. But the redness of her eyes indicated crying… She greeted me back the same way. I kept trying to talk to her, and then Savia came in… And of course she’s spouting on and on about stuff about the Revenant, and she said that either Azra’s name (which was in its mouth) was either the last word of the soul that the Revenant took or the name of the person it was sent _after_ and he was _murdered_. 

Guess which one she thought. 

She raced out of DuBois and I followed her. She was feverently looking for Medard. Medard? Why? She found him in Dan Obeah house, and while the faculty and ghosts tried to assess if there was a problem, I managed to pull her out. But as soon as Medard came out, she challenged him to a duel… And I have never been more exhilarated and scared at the same time. She got right into his face, yelling at him, asking why he wasn’t fighting back… And then, with words out of earshot, she ran back to DuBois.

I followed. She sat back down and started saying “I couldn’t do it. After everything he… I couldn’t…” I tried to tell her that it was _fine_ that she couldn’t do it… Someone else said Medard deserved the ass kicking. “The one time I beat him and I…” she kept repeating. I kept my hand on hers, gently scrubbing the back of her hands with my thumbs. She tried to dismiss us to go have fun, and looked straight at me, as if it was for _only_ me. 

I stood up and put my hand on her head. I pushed some of her hair back, even though it was already tied. “You know me, Az,” I said quietly, “You know I’ll always worry.” The tiniest flicker of a smile pulled at her cheeks, but… She was sad. Of _course_ she was sad… She’d be an idiot if she _wasn’t_ sad… 

But Azra isn’t an idiot. She is anything but. 

I’ve missed her. 

I told her that. 

I asked her to do lunch with me tomorrow… Maybe she will… I hope she does.

Welcome back to school… With a bang. Caw caw...


	2. Day Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day of Magischola... Featuring Andrew asking out his date to the dance, an unexpected love confession, and Gorecasters.
> 
> Time of Gameplay: 7am - 12am  
> Steps: 19,549

* * *

                                                                                                    **D A Y         T W O**

* * *

I will never take truth serum again.

But let’s back up. What started as a phenomenal day turned out bittersweet. I invited Azra to sit with me at breakfast, and she did. I did tell her it didn’t get her out of lunch, though, and she just laughed. But her sitting next to me… It was so easy. Effortless. I didn’t realize how much I missed that.

My classes were all great, enjoyable even. Ethics and, of course, artificiery, were my absolute favorites. I’m beyond psyched that I got Professor Armstrong again. That guy kicks ass.

We started in Crypto… Which, for some reason, was mixed with Divination? Awkward? Anyways, we got to work with Triple Eagle pellets. Persephone nearly shit herself while she squealed and freaked. She didn’t want to touch them. At least Gilly Forscythe (the enjoyable cousin to my roommate) was all for it. We had fun going back and forth teasing her. We found so many skulls in our own pellet, but what was even cooler was the reading that Beatrisa got from it…

A fight, or some sort of conflict. Three separate entities coming together to fight against something bigger… And then one being left behind. Eerie. Apparently this was for the future…

Why does conflict make my stomach turn?

After that, I headed to Ethics. Azra was in class there, as was Gaia (my cousin)! Gaia said he was _awesome_. Well of _course_ he was! I’m glad she got excited about his class. Maybe now she’ll actually stay _in_ it (of course, she wouldn’t be my troublemaker cousin if she did, would she?). Azra seemed to be feeling at least… A little better. Already talking about skipping classes. Sigh... Do I just invite trouble into my midst?

I was really excited about this class, besides the professor, because I knew Adrianna was in it. Our schedules were really weird this year, and we didn’t have many classes together… But when class started, she wasn’t there. I kept looking for her, at least until I got caught up in the lecture, and the door opened mid-class to reveal…

… She was battered. Bruises all over her cheeks, her eyes, her hands. Her fingers were red and already starting to purple. She had blood on the bottom right corner of her lip. She looked like _shit_.

And I was _pissed_.

I kept trying to look back at her, as she took a seat behind me, and once the lecture was over I tried to get her to talk to me outside… I had to be careful not to touch her. She’s always hated that, and since I found out about her power our first year, I’ve been hyper-aware to respect her boundaries. She told me that her injuries were from Professor Styles… If touch wasn’t so sensitive for her… I wanted to take care of her myself… She said she was fine.. But… If anyone knew her like I did…

Then they’d know she was lying.

Things were uneventful until Alchemy. We created a truth serum (hence start of this journal). Since no one in my group wanted to try it, I did. Adrianna’s worst question was about my underwear color. She made some comment about how it wasn’t very Obeah of me to be wearing blue. I didn’t coordinate my _underwear_ for my house, thank you very much.

Azra looked miserable at the next table over… So I walked over. Their serum was black, even though it was also supposed to be truth serum and ours was gold… Eww. You should have seen her face when she asked me if I wanted to take some and I told her I already had. She smiled so wide… It was beautiful.

“Are you happy to be back at school?” Yes. Of course I am.

“What’s your favorite class?” Ethics, actually. Artificiery was cool, but I was honestly loving Ethics.

“Do you still like me?”

And I said yes.

I have never had the blood run out of my entire body, but I am pretty sure I know what the feeling is now. I’m pretty sure I left a bunch of it all over the floor in the Alchemy lab. Azra looked at me and asked if I meant it. I stuttered, obviously it was yes, and the truth serum wouldn’t let me lie even _if_ I wanted to… And then I left. Just grabbed my shit and left. Didn’t even bother packing it, just piled it into my arms and tore out of class. Thank god it was over already… Coakley taking more points from me would just suck. And I was almost out of the building when I heard it…

“Andrew, wait.”

… How could I _not_.

I turned back and she was still walking towards me. I met her half-way. She had meant to be funny, not hurtful. Her face… If you saw how she looked at me, so hurt… I know she didn’t mean it. She _never_ means it. But I didn’t regret saying it. It’s the truth. She would have gotten that even if I wasn’t on the serum. As other students started filing out of class, I took her hand and brought her to the summoning circle. I wanted to talk, still, about this, about… _Us_. And outside of the ears of the people who would just spread stupid rumors and gossip. My life is _not_ fodder for them.

I told her I liked her. And she said she liked me too, but was so… _Confused_ , what with her dad’s death and all… I told her to take all the time she needed… But I showed her the corsage… And she said it was the most beautiful thing I have ever made. Thank god she liked it. I think… Well, it could have been better. It should have been, for her. Azra went to class and Margeary found me. She had been waiting for me once she saw that I was talking to Azra... So I told her what happened, and showed her the corsage... Thank god for her, because otherwise I would have probably puked then and there.

The day continued to be uneventful, except that Adrianna ignored me for the rest of it…That bugged me.

The sorting went phenomenally. Dan Obeah got ten new hatchlings, the most out of every house. Before we left... Joscelyn made an announcement... She has Aphotic bane... How did it take me two years to find that out...? She asked for our forgiveness... Forgiveness that she didn't need to ask for... But she did anyways... I feel awful that she's been suffering through this alone... I should have been a better housemate to her...

For our initiation, we planned to go to the amphitheatre… There was some buzz about Slager escaping from Avernus, and that he and the Gorecasters had been seen in the forest, so, as an extra precaution (although you can’t believe any damn rumor in this school), we set up runes around our initiation area. Once we were set, we gathered our hatchlings, set up mentees with their mentors, and chose our tokens… I chose a small leather circle with a tree carved in the middle of it… For some reason, it spoke to me. A sign of growth, of change, of strengthening.

I knew before we stood in that circle, placing a small piece of our soul into our token and using it to call forth the founder, what I wanted to pledge. Change. The change I wanted to see in the next year. I wanted to stop being scared, to become the man I wanted to be, and, more importantly, the man Azra needed me to be. I said it in front of the entirety of Dan Obeah, and I meant every word.

Croatan tried to interrupt our initiation because we were in danger. While our house monitors went to go take care of them, we tried to keep everyone focused… Breaking focus could have meant death for all of us. Luckily, we were able to call forth the spirit of our founder, finish our ritual, and break easily. After, we went back to the common rooms, and we were accosted by students asking us who we were. I yelled that we were from Dan Obeah, and asked what the problem was.

Gorecasters. They had been here. And DuBois had fought them.

My heart dissolved. I ran to the DuBois room and found Azra and Aveline. They were both okay, as was Adrianna, but she still avoided me. I tried to get her to talk to me, but she got Medard to interfere. Dammit.

Thank god they were all okay.

Today… Was a long ass day. And I still have my essays to write.


	3. Day Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day three of Magischola, featuring Azra's answer to Andrew's request for her hand to the dance, a kidnapping of a fellow Raven, and the dance itself.
> 
> Time of Gameplay: 12am-3:30am, 6:30am-12am  
> Steps: 24,658

* * *

                                                                                               **D A Y         T H R E E**

* * *

While I was doing my homework last night, I ended up realizing I forgot my coursebook down by the amphitheatre… I had used it to help some of the Ravens with runes for our protection spells… I used this excuse to send a message to Adrianna to have her go down with me (Aveline was too busy calling me an idiot). After what seemed like forever, she finally started talking to me… She kept insisting that nothing was going on between us, even though I could tell she was still lying, but at least she was _talking_ to me again… It seems like she doesn’t realize that she is my _best friend_. She and I have been together since the beginning of Magischola. Doesn’t she get that I can _tell_ when she’s lying to me? At least it started to get a little easier as the night went on. We looked for my book (no luck, dammit), then headed back to campus. Every sound of the forest made us flinch, thinking a Gorecaster was going to come out after us… But when we got back to campus, we were free. We talked, we laughed, and we hung outside of Jeter until nearly three in the morning… It was nice. It felt like we were re-connecting again. I didn’t realize that her ignoring me for a day would make me miss her so bad… 

I crashed for a few hours after really hastily writing what I could of my ethics and crypto papers. I started falling asleep on my desk, and used that as an excuse to stop. I knew I could finish them in the morning at breakfast. So, with three hours of sleep beneath my belt, I trudged to the dining hall with Adrianna. We were back in action again, thank god. 

“Hey Andrew.”

I had barely put down my tray of food when I heard Azra’s voice behind me. I turned and she gave me that smile, that little impish half-smile that’s just… So sweet… “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Yeah, those words gave me a heart attack. Maybe two. I walked up to her and pulled her aside a little, asking if she wanted to go somewhere else to talk. Like yesterday, she asked why. Why? Because if you’re about to break my heart I’d rather not do it in front of the whole student body so I hear them talking about me all day. 

“I have to tell you something.” Oh god. Oh man. “I’m a… Fairy maid.”

…. Wait, was that it? 

I was honestly expecting my heart to be shattered. I waited a few more seconds before saying kinda confidently, “Yeah? And?” This seemed to shock her. She looked at me and her eyes had widened a lot. 

“And… How do you feel about that?”

Azra… Sweetheart, did you even know me at _all_ last year when we dated? 

“Azra, I don’t care,” I chuckled at her. I shook my head. “I’m from _Thunderbird_. Accepting and stuff is kinda what we do.” I looked at her, and that didn’t seem to be the explanation that was soothing her. “I like _you_. Fairy maid or not, I like _you_.” That seemed to be the better answer. I could almost see the weight on her shoulders rolling off. “So…” I trailed. “Does that mean… You’ll go to the formal with me?”

Her expression softened even more. “If you still want me.”

I smiled. “I _always_ want you.”

Then, her left hand came out from behind her back. She had a small bundle of flowers put together, some of the blue ones I had seen on campus, one yellow one, a tiny pine branch with needles _and_ a cone attached, and some sort of leaf. They were put together so tight in her tiny hands, and she said “I got these for you.”

I melted. A big puddle on the floor. Unlike yesterday where this felt like my blood, this felt like… My soul? Everything? This was… So sweet. 

After accepting her flowers (!!!!), I told her that she should go and eat something. She hadn’t gotten her food yet. She acquiesced. I told her we’d talk more during Alchemy, and that I _promised_ to be in her group today, unlike yesterday. 

I walked back to the table a happy man. I _remained_ that way even through a really crummy Runic Magic class, and losing the debate in Ethics. But the debate was close, so I’m not worried about that. The pros for necrotic studies put up a great fight! I found Margeary right after Runic Magic (she was being a dirty class skipper, per usual) and the first words out of her mouth were “DID SHE SAY YES?!” 

I think the beaming on my face must have gave it away, because she screamed and jumped and hugged me so tight. Everyone was looking at us funny, but I didn’t care. Yes, Azra had said yes, and with every look at the flowers that I held as delicately as I could between classes I was reminded of that fact. 

I walked her to lunch. We held hands. It was awesome. A group of mundane girls passed us on the bridge and one of them yelled out “hashtag-relationship-goals” while some others cooed “you guys are so cute!” We both laughed. I was so embarrassed, but happy.

At lunch, two announcements were read that made me cringe. One, Jayden was outed as being a Lycan. The whole room went quiet until someone spoke up and asked if anyone had a problem with that. I don’t know who it was, but then someone else stood up and said “Then they’ll have to go through me.” I stood up right after and declared the same thing, as did the rest of Obeah house. Lycan or not, innocent until proven guilty, and no one was going to touch Jayden. It was nice to hear the room in almost complete solidarity. The other announcement was that Aveline’s father had died… I watched her face as it sank. 

In Alchemy, I walked in with Azra. “So, you wanna sit next to each other or across?” She looked confused at my question. “I did _promise_ to be in a group with you today.” 

After a second, she said, “You should sit across from me so we can look at ea-- I mean talk to each other.”

Uh-huh. Nice save Bloom. “So we can talk to each other, huh?” I teased her. She flashed me that adorable smile. God, I missed that.

Coakley wasn’t there because he had been made the Chancellor-in-interim of ours being gone… Adrianna was taking over. Before class, she slipped me a piece of paper. It had ‘“You Set Me Free” --Michelle Branch’ on it. She told me to look it up. 

Adrianna managed to start us off in making a healing potion, one that used Dragon’s Blood and Unicorn blood. Interesting. We were getting some of the materials together, and Azra accidentally spilled our portion of the unicorn blood all over the table. Whoops. Thank god Coakley wasn’t there. DuBois would have been screwed. Everything else went without a hitch… Until I went to remove our potion from the flame and it caught _ON FIRE_. Savia was quick to snuff it with another beaker. I was too busy trying to get my life to un-flash before my eyes because of how close the flame had gotten to my hand. Even with this, Adrianna continued to ignore me throughout most of class. Apparently our warmth had only been for that morning… 

I was on my free period, so I walked Azra across the way to her healing class. As much as I wanted her to skip (holy crap, me, condoning skipping?), she needed this class at the very least. I told her I’d pick her up after since I wanted to go and have extra twirl-around time with her at the dance practice the Registrar was doing. After I took some time to catch up on my homework, and listen to the song that Adrianna gave me, I found a group gathering around Jayden. They were facing off with someone, I didn’t know who they were. I joined, finding some of my Ravens already there, and listened. More Lycan shit… Something about potions and whether or not Jayden had enough. Obviously they did: they wouldn’t have survived at school this long, without detection, if they didn’t. After a few minutes, it seemed like everything was under control. Luckily, it was almost four, so that meant it was almost time for Azra’s class to be over.

Adrianna came out of a classroom, and I called over to her. And she avoided me, again. I followed her, asking what was up, and she wouldn’t talk to me. Said something about talking to Hyacinth and asked if I had listened to the song. I told her I did but that I was confused. She called me dense. I said that I didn’t like working with riddles. She kept making excuse after excuse not to talk to me, and I got fed up and walked away. Fine. If she didn’t want to talk to me, then so be it. 

I waited on a pillar on the dueling circle for Azra’s class to end. After a while, Adrianna came up to me. “I thought you had to talk to Hyacinth,” I mocked her. 

“She didn’t show up, so…” 

“What’s _wrong_ with you?” I asked her. I looked at her and watched her squirm. “You’ve been a jerk for the past two days. I thought we were over whatever it was that you were mad at me for yesterday.”

“I’m not mad at you--”

“Then what? Are you just ignoring me for funsies? Because it’s not fun, and I don’t like how hot and cold you’re getting on me.”

“Did you listen to that song?”

For fuck’s sake. “ _Yes,_ I told you I did. But, like, what, you expected me to listen to a song and know what was up?”

Her look said that I should have figured it out. Listen, when you give a guy a song and make him listen to it, he can have a _million_ different reactions to it. How was I supposed to get the _one_ that was hers? 

The heavy doors of the hall opened, and when I turned, I saw Azra. I smiled. When I looked back at Adrianna, I could feel her discomfort radiating. _That_ was new. “So are you gonna tell me what’s up with you or what?”

After a pause, she asked for a hug. She looked so defeated. I think I did too. I hopped down and wrapped my arms around her. And I felt my heart break, my stomach sink, a huge feeling of despair wiping over my entire body. My heart hurt as much as my head, and I felt like I was breathing through a hole in my stomach rather than through my lungs. She ripped away and left. 

“What was that about?” Azra’s voice behind me made me look at her.

“I don’t know…” I muttered easily, looking back to where Adrianna was quickly shuffling away. “It felt like…” I didn’t know if Azra knew… About Adrianna’s empathic ability, “It felt like her heart was breaking.”

Azra went and talked to her. I waited. I waited for Azra and waited for the feelings that Adrianna had given me to wash through my body and filter themselves out. When Azra returned, she said that she thought that Adrianna had feelings for me… After what she had given me, I was pretty sure that was the correct conclusion. She told me to go to her, to talk to her, maybe even to take her to the formal. And I said no. Azra looked at me with a torn expression of confusion and sadness. “I chose you,” I reminded her. I reached out for her hands, now noticing the red stains on one them that must have happened during class, “And I _still_ choose you…”

Even though I said that, I still felt my own heart breaking for Adrianna… I couldn’t help her. Azra pulled her hand away from mine, the stained one, muttering something about how she couldn’t get it off. I used this opportunity to take her hand again, weaving our fingers together, seeing if the red would come off on my hands. It didn’t. “Well, then I’m good,” I said, and this made her laugh. Thank god. I need to make her laugh more often. With everything with her dad, and all of her issues that she has to constantly deal with as house president, she _needs_ constant comedic relief. I kissed her red fingers, then asked if she was ready to go dance. It seemed to be enough to get her to relax.

I had forgotten how silly these things were. I hadn’t been to one in… A year. I went my first year. We danced around the pavilion, skipping and holding hands, listening to some sort of Celtic… Something. But Azra continued to smile, and laugh, and her hand in mine felt so warm. My entire focus was on her, even as Tulane and Margeary hassled us from behind. As soon as we were led into the building to start our formal dancing, I felt my nerves pick up. I hadn’t danced with Azra before. Sure, I had _seen_ her dance, but never danced with her. The Registrar picked her for a demonstration partner.

“Watch your hands, registrar.” 

My mouth had a mind of its own. The chuckles from the large group made him look at me with a raised eyebrow and a small glare. Azra, though, smiled. Worth it. He made a fine display of how to dance with a partner, and Azra skirted along the floor beautifully… 

Dammit, I am so lucky. 

I whistled at her sometime through the lesson. Then lost three points from Obeah, at which _everyone_ was hooting and hollering. I must have turned fifteen different shades of red. He told me to apologize, and I did, and he awarded my three points back. Thank god. With us narrowly in the lead for house points over DuBois, I couldn’t stand to lose any more. 

I pulled Azra out and we left early. We’d graced the floor enough with our dancing, and I was feeling a little needy for some time with her. We talked about us, about the dance, about her classes with Wittgenstein. We talked about how we were _lucky_ to be able to use magic, and how her classes had taught her that. It was enlightening. 

A scream in the summoning circle made us stop. Someone from Croatan. We ran over, and she started saying something about seeing… Someone. Someone being kidnapped. This wasn’t the first time I had seen someone with a vision. Gaia has them all the time. And when we probed, she told us that she saw Jayden on the Pearl. Someone had taken them. 

I looked at Azra. She told me to go. And I ran. I ran as fast as I could, Joscelyn behind me, a few others from other houses that had been in that courtyard with me too. I ran all the way to the Pearl, and when we got there, Jayden was on the bench, with the same person who had accosted them after lunch, and someone else in a lab coat. They had warded the area. I tried to look at the runes, deciphering their code, and we had a cursebreaker look at them before we detonated them with an explosion rune. 

I… Felt like an animal. I cast spell after spell, trying to confuse, petrify, tie up, anything… I could have _killed_ in that instant. And that was terrifying. We got Jayden and I helped carry them to the amphitheatre, trying to get them away from their captors. Some of the others that helped took them away, thankfully. The last thing I wanted was to feel their presence. 

They had forced Jayden to drink some sort of potion. We got the ingredient list, and while non-lethal, it had been an experiment to expel the Lycan within my housemate… The problem hadn’t been its potions, though, according to the seer that had seen Jayden on the Pearl… It was the breech of will. And she, Chronos Locklear I would later learn her name, put her own soul in danger in order to pull the ill-intent from Jayden’s will to save them.

It should have been me. I should have been the sacrifice for them. Jayden is _my_ housemate… And whether that meant death or not, Chronos hadn’t been clear, I should have been ready to die for them. And I wasn’t. And I broke. 

When Jayden, and eventually Chronos, came to, I felt numb. I was weak. I went with Xel to go find Jayden’s wand, returned it to them, and then walked back to campus. My body felt heavy. I felt weak and infuriated at the same time. I needed to see Azra. I wondered where she was, if she was still waiting for me to come back to her like I promised I would before I ran off… 

Instead I found Adrianna. And she knew something was wrong the minute she looked at my face. And, unlike her, when someone asks me what’s wrong I tell them. And I cried. I cried in front of her and she held me. Thank god our fight was over… I need her.

I found Azra on our way to the dining hall. I told her what had happened, a less teary-eyed version than the one I had sobbed at Adrianna, and we were quiet on the walk there. I felt heavy still from my fighting on the Pearl, and Jayden’s experience racked me hard… 

Aveline noticed me when I walked into the dining hall and took off my robe to sling it over the chair at her table with Margeary. “You look positively awful,” she said in her normal, chipper, this-is-a-burn-but-I’m-going-to-pretend-it’s-classy tone of voice. 

“Yeah?” I snapped back, “Well you look like a slut.”

I didn’t hear her retort as I walked away to get food.

I spent the rest of the night trying to get ready for the dance. I took the flowers Azra had given me and made a boutonniere from them. There was no way in hell I wasn’t going to wear them. I picked up Azra outside of Jeter at 8:25… And she was absolutely beautiful… Jaw-droppingly beautiful, more so than she normally is… I wasn’t sure if she legitimately still wanted the corsage I made, so I offered to put it back in my room before we left, but she wanted it, so I slipped it on her wrist. 

We walked down to the bridge. Everyone complimented her on how beautiful she was. Well, duh. Have they not _seen_ her?

I pointed out some baby geese to her that were near the lake. She squealed when she saw how fuzzy they were. While we waited to enter, I asked Azra if we could try again… Our relationship, I meant, not just going to the dance together. And she said yes. She is my girlfriend again. 

The dance… Was a whirlwind. Azra had asked Professor Heartfire to the dance as well, since he is leaving school I guess, and since he wanted a waltz and that was the first dance, I let him have it. She looked like she was going to cry. I told her that we had a million more dances left. 

In retrospect, I should have been greedier. I should have danced with her more. Between DuBois needing her, and Dan Obeah needing me, and the Professor dancing with her fifty times (seriously, what gives?), I felt like I barely saw her at all… 

I met Adrianna’s date, some Forscythe from Imperial. I guess Medard set the up. Seems like someone Medard would know. She looked happy, though, so I’m glad. 

There were rumors about Slager being at the formal… I kept my hand around my wand nearly the entire night. I wouldn’t let Azra out of my sight. Whenever I had to, I always made sure she knew where she was, and we checked in with each other. 

Milo nearly attacked Blair (the asshole that tried to ‘cure’ Jayden) mid-party. We had to calm him down. Jetson got broken up with _at_ the dance… Same with him. Emotions and tensions were high. 

Towards the end of the dance, the Chancellor came back (!!!) as our petitions for his freedom had succeeded in their mission! He announced the house cup… And Dan Obeah took it. 

Prior to the dance, Azra and I made a wager. If Dan Obeah won, she would have to do the ‘cawcaw’ cheer with us. If DuBois did, I’d have to do theirs. And, while it was a little unenthusiastic, she held up her end of the bargain. Honestly, though, I would have been happier if they had won it. I would have proudly cheered for, and with, her. 

Welcome to the start of the new year. 


	4. Author's Notes/Thank Yous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Notes from me, the roleplayer, to the other players and characters who made my game.

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                                                                                         **A U T H O R S         N O T E S**

* * *

All of these character interactions? Unscripted.

All of the running around? Unscripted.

Andrew falling in love with Azra at the beginning of the game? Unplanned for and unscripted.

This LARP was amazing for me. As an actor, I’m used to going with the flow and working with people. Part of rehearsing scripted materials is knowing _when_ someone has gone too far, done too much, or exceeded something, and learning to pull them back in and get the show back on track. Improv is a must. You _have_ to know how to do it. But I was nervous as an actor, nervous as a _person_ , to be involved in such a huge production with barely any scripture. The only things I had were the World Document (explaining this fictional world we were going to be in), which was heavily detailed, but no actual script. Once I was there, I was in character, and I had to sink or swim.

And I swam. I swam _hard_. 

There are a few people I would love to thank for their contribution, and for making my LARP fantastic:

 **To my wife, who played Aveline:** I wanted these tickets for you. I didn’t, originally, want to go. I was too scared. I was planning on going so that you would have a fun time. I am so glad I have you in my life because, without you, I would not have had this experience. I wouldn’t have met our friends and been so inspired by these stories. 

**To Adrianna:** Your friendship is one I can’t be without. You helped me while I was just starting to flesh out Andrew, and you pulled me through the LARP when times got rough. You threw me curve-balls and helped me relax both in and out of character. You reminded me of what it meant to be a kid again and to have fun. You made me get out of my head space, and even now, I treasure you more than you know.

 **To Margeary:** I feel like I have known you for forever. Thank you for your constant teasing, your flirting, and your boisterous nature that kept feeding Andrew’s. Thank you for listening to my out of character insecurities that bled into Andrew’s. Thank you for being my ‘back-up-date’ when I figured that I would end up going alone because Andrew bit off more than he could chew. 

**To my Dan Obeahs:** I didn’t expect to find house pride here. I came into the game not caring about the house cup. Andrew just didn’t care. But the love between all of you was so palpable that it was impossible to ignore. To my Joscelyn, James, Vita, Sam, Horus, Jayden, Jetson, Milo, Nellwyn… You guys were my rocks. I am so proud to be your housemate. And to my new hatchlings, I’m sorry that the game being as it was meant that I barely met _any_ of you besides to fix some ties. But I love you, all of you. I will forever be a Raven _because_ of all you. #birdhousebesthouse #birdhousecutesthouse #cawcaw

 **To the Bad Guys:** You created so much conflict, and for that I am thankful. Andrew could not have had half the emotional journey he did without it. Between his fear for his Bears being injured to the fear of his housemate being corrupted, there was so much that Andrew could not have protected anyone from... And this unexpected character development made him so much better.

 **To the Mundane Girls Who Will Never See This:** You. Made. My. Game. #relationshipgoals

 **To my Azra:** You were the one thing that I was not expecting to happen in this game, but I am very glad you did. This story, _our_ story, is incredible. Thank you for your patience with me, for your calm guidance while Andrew danced around like an idiot, for being sweet and letting me sweep you off your feet, for being the most beautiful date Andrew could have had, for letting me _play_ when it came to eating silly hor d'oeuvres and getting you a cup of water, for letting me take silly pictures with you, and for creating a beautiful love story. Even though the ship was not one I was expecting, I will gladly continue on it. “Together we’re strong, right?” 


End file.
